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desire on behalf of my brethren of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Ayrshire to thank you for giving us the opportunity of paying our devoted homage here to the memory of Robert Burns. We wish you all success in this noble undertaking. We trust that it may be far more successful than you at present anticipate. We hope that when completed the blessing of the Great Architect may remain upon it, and that

"Within this dear mansion may wayward contention,

Or withered envy ne'er enter;

May harmony round be the mystical bound,

And brotherly love be the centre." (Loud Applause.)

Mr. J. LEIPER GEMMILL said—

At the great demonstration at Dumfries on Tuesday there was a little garland laid beside the Poet's tomb, which, I think, will come closer to his heart than any of the others that was placed there. It was a wreath of holly boughs gathered from Mossgiel, intermingled with daisies from the field where he ploughed up the "wee crimson-tipped flower." (Applause.) It was arranged by the hands of his descendant, Miss Annie B. Burns, in my house in Glasgow, the evening before. (Applause.) I can hardly trust myself in saying how much I feel the honour of representing the Glasgow Mauchline Society on such an occasion as this. In our great cities there are infirmaries, convalescent homes, and other institutions of a similar kind-a great movement of charity at work-but in the country there are very few of them; and it is to do something for the class among whom Burns's lot was cast that we are here to-day. In the name of the Glasgow Mauchline Society I ask you to give a hearty vote of thanks to all who have helped in this work. (Loud applause.)

Bro. WALLACE acknowledged the vote of thanks.

This closed the proceedings at the site of the Memorial Homes. The processionists then returned to the town.

THE BANQUET.

At three o'clock a grand banquet took place in a large marquee within the grounds of Netherplace. Mr. J. Leiper Gemmill presided, and the croupiers' chairs were filled by Sir Wm. Arroll, M.P.; Sir John Muir, Bart., of Deanston; and Sheriff Brand. About 200 ladies and gentlemen were present, among them being Lady Alexander of Ballochmyle, Miss Annie B. Burns, Miss Margaret Constance Burns Hutchinson, Mr. H. R. Wallace and Mrs. Wallace, Cloncaird; General George Warren Walker, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Dunlop of Doonside, Mr. and Mrs. J. Baird Thorneycroft, Netherplace; Mr. Eugene Wason of Blair, Mrs. and Master Gemmill, Rev. Wilson Baird, Mr. Marcus Bain, Woodside; Mr. and Mrs. Wm. M'Millan, Commercial Bank; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Killin,

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Alexander, Mr. W. S. M'Millan, Dr. James F. Gemmill, Mr. and Mrs. Cuthbert Gemmill, Mr. A. J. Kilpatrick, Mr. W. Craibe Angus, Glasgow; Mr. J. Lawrie Coulson, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Neilson, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Marr, Bailie and Mrs. John Marr, Mr. J. OrrSinclair, Captain Gilmour, Mr. Matthew Arthur, Mr. Mure of Caldwell, Mr. Robert Walker, Art Institute, Glasgow ; Dr. Sloan, Mr. Walter M'Ilvean, Mr. James Killin, Mr. A. G. Alexander, Mr. John Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. S. Young, Mrs. Strathearn, Miss Jessie Hislop, Mr. Alexander

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Loudon, Mr. J. B. Loudon, Mayor of Coventry; Mr. Robert Muir, of Craignaught; Provost Mackay, Captain David Sneddon, Mr. D. M'Naught, Bailie Paterson, ex-Bailie Muir, ex-Bailie John Baird, ex-Bailie James Arbuckle, Mr. John Kerr, Mr. Thomas Lyon, Mr. George Dunlop, Mr. J. Wilson Wallace, Mr. R. D. Tannahill, Mr. David Aird, Mr. Richard Armstrong, Kilmarnock; Rev. J. S. Nisbet, Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Brown, ex-Provost Longmuir, Irvine; Misses Douglas, Mr. Robert Morton, Mr. John Mair, etc., etc. Apologies for absence were intimated from Major-General Sir Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle, Sir Archibald Alison,

Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Sir Donald Mathieson, Sir Wm. Dunn, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir Wm. Geddes, Sir James Fergusson, Mr. W. K. Hamilton Campbell, Mr. James Somervell of Sorn, Mr. Charles Howatson, Glenbuck; Mr. C. G. Shaw, Bailie Ramsay, and others. The tables were beautifully decorated with flowers.

The CHAIRMAN proposed "The Queen."

Provost MACKAY proposed "The Navy, Army, and Reserve Forces."

They had settled pleasure of great

General WARREN WALKER, in an interesting reply, said it might be necessary for him, an Englishman, to apologise for his presence. (Laughter.) If so, they would permit him to say that he had a Scottish mother, that he spent his early days in Edinburgh and Musselburgh, and that he married a Scottish wife, who declared he was "daft about Burns." (Laughter.) He thought after what he had seen and heard at Dumfries, Glasgow, and elsewhere he would be dafter still. (Renewed laughter.) He had been acquainted with both the Poet's soldier-sons, Colonel William Nicol Burns and Colonel James Glencairn Burns, the latter of whom married his (the speaker's) cousin, Sarah Robinson, a Yorkshire lady, out of his father's house, in 1818. He made the acquaintance of both soldiers in 1843, before he went out to India. in Cheltenham, and there he had the honour and intimacy with them. When the Colonels were at Gravesend, and he a youngster doing duty with the Royal Engineers establishment at Chatham, they did him the honour of occasionally coming over and dining with him at mess. On one memorable occasion, 18th June, 1843, they had a very pleasant evening, in the course of which Colonel James Burns, who had a very sweet voice, and had all his father's verses at his fingers' end, gave two or three delightful songs, which were heartily enjoyed. He (the speaker) wanted something more, and said, “Could you not favour us with 'Scots Wha Hae?"" He said, "I'm not up to that song on every occasion. I require to be wound up to a certain pitch before I dare attempt it." "Well, you're forgetting that this is Waterloo day; is that not enough for you?” Up Colonel Burns thereupon jumped, and sang it in glorious style. (Applause.) Alluding to the Reserve Forces, General Warren Wallace made sympathetic reference to the death of Lady Wemyss, whose husband was one of the earliest supporters of the Volunteer movement.

The CHAIRMAN then said-While feeling very highly honoured in cccupying the position in which I now stand, I cannot refrain from expressing my regret at the fact that our honorary president is not filling the chair to-day. In addition to being a warm admirer of our great Poet, he is the possessor of the Braes of Ballochmyle, and, above all, of the classic ground of Mossgiel. But it is one consolation to us that Lady Alexander, as his representative, has come to grace our meeting. It is my privilege also to read to you to-day a letter from Mrs. Hutchinson, now an aged lady, but familiar to all of you as being the young girl in the portrait

She has always felt a very great

of Bonie Jean and her grand-daughter. interest in our movement, and she writes :

Woodlands, July 18th, 1896.

Dear Mr. Gemmill,

I regret very much that my health does not allow of my being present at the Burns Centenary celebration at Mauchline, but I shall be with you in spirit. I have from the first taken a deep interest in the proposed Cottage Homes, which I consider a most fitting memorial to one who has been well named the "Poet of Humanity." I heartily wish success and prosperity to the Burns Memorial Cottage Homes.—I am, dear Mr. Gemmill, yours sincerely,

(Loud applause).

SARAH BURNS HUTCHINSON.

I do not wish to anticipate in any way the literary treat that we will have in the next toast by Sheriff Brand, and accordingly I shall speak very hurriedly of the history of the movement that has brought us all together. It is one of the characteristics of our Scottish race that we are clannish, and in every great city those coming from some little village-be it ever so small-wish to have some common rallying ground. It was that feeling that caused a number of is connected with Mauchline, some eight or nine years ago, to meet together at a conversazione. We had a delightful meeting, and at the close our good friend, Mr. Hamilton Marr, proposed that there should be an association formed to go on in perpetuity. Then there came the time when the centenary celebrations began to simmer, and at our meeting Bailie Marr, in his address, said, "Why cannot we Mauchline boys do something to place in Mauchline a memorial of the Poet?" At the first meeting of the committee the matter was gone into and most anxiously discussed, and the result was that we thought, before we could do anything, we must consult our honorary president, Sir Claud Alexander. We put our views before him, and he—as he has always done in every public movement—at once heartily agreed. And not only so, but he headed the list of subscriptions with a very handsome sum. (Applause.) Speaking of this movement, I cannot help saying how much has been done-in addition to the work of Mr. Killin-by my friend the secretary, Mr. W. S. M'Millan. (Applause.) We have, I am glad to say, got the length of close upon £3000—(applause)—a sum that at the beginning we hardly hoped to reach. But as time has gone on and the scheme progressed we feel that a larger sum than that will be required. We have taken contracts, by which something like £2500 will be spent upon the building and the fitting of them up. But we wish, in addition to building the tower and the cottages, to form a fund to endow these. I feel convinced that the generosity which has helped to build up these homes will also ensure their maintenance, and that in future years the memory of Burns will be no less strong, in stimulating to acts of charity and kindness, than it has proved in this the centenary of his death. (Loud applause.)

G

Sheriff BRAND, on rising to give the toast of the day, "The Memory of Burns," was received with loud and prolonged applause. He said

The memory and the works of those great men who have passed from earth is one of the most valued heritages we possess. In the number and achievements of such men Scotland is rich. She can recall from very early times the names of poets, philosophers, warriors, statesmen, and men

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of science, who have attained results that were destined to endure. Among poets, Burns takes a place in our hearts peculiarly his own. (Applause.) Round his life has gathered a literature profuse and divergent, and while opinions have sometimes varied, and criticism has at times ventured to be hostile, his rare lyric and epic genius, freed from the entanglements of this world, has ever fascinated our upward gaze, and has swayed the minds of the generations of men who have succeeded him with

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